Trading Techniques  |  JUN 2003

Do Or Die Trading by Bo Yoder

Do Or Die Trading by Bo Yoder Bring consistency to your trading. A s any active trader knows, once a trade is initiated, the market will do everything in its power to convince you that you are an idiot who has just put on the worst trade in the history of mankind. The market will form little false starts and head-fakes, then go dead in the water as it tries to bore you to death. These whips and jiggles ask you constantly, “Are you sure about this trade?” and try to convince you to exit as the stock hacks and gasps its way toward your profit objective. It takes great discipline and commitment to your trading plan to ignore these emotion-laden moves, and they will wreak havoc on your mental state if you’re not prepared for them before you initiate the trade. This discipline and confidence in your trading style comes with time and experience. However, in working with my consulting clients, I have discovered a way to short-circuit this process and bring their trading to a new level of consistency. I call it “do or die” trading. More and more brokers are offering the ability to tie a series of orders together, bringing the “OCO” order (also known as “one cancels the other”), which futures traders have enjoyed for years, into the world of the equity trader.

by Bo Yoder